CZECH: New beers lift Staropramen above Czech market in 2011

Pivovary Staropramen has said that it strongly outperformed a flat Czech beer market in 2011, with own-beer volumes up by 8%.

New beers such as Staropramen Cool Lemon and Staropramen "unfiltered" drove the brewer to a 9% increase in domestic sales by volume for the 12 months to the end of December, it said today (10 February). The overall Czech beer market was flat for the year, said the group, which is owned by private equity firm StarBev.

“While Staropramen Unfiltered allowed us to capture the attention of conventional beer lovers, with Staropramen Cool Lemon we reached a lot of consumers who are not your typical beer drinkers,” said Staropramen's general manager, Zbynek Kovár. “In addition, the very good sales result in the domestic market was supplemented by the Staropramen brand's success abroad."

Staropramen's export volumes rose by 6% versus 2010. The rise means that overall volume sales of the brewer's own beer brands increased by 8% for the 12 months, to 3m hectolitres.